John Kelly, White House chief of staff during the Trump administration, said in a series of recent interviews that former President Donald Trump meets the definition of a fascist.
The comment, published Tuesday, was made in one of Kelly’s interviews with The New York Times. Audio of his remarks was made available online.
“Certainly the former president is in far-right territory, he is certainly authoritarian and admires people who are dictators – he has said that. So he certainly falls under the general definition of fascist,” Kelly said.
Kelly, who first joined the Trump administration as secretary of Homeland Security and later served as White House chief of staff from July 2017 to early 2019, also said Trump had spoken positively about Adolf Hitler.
“He noted more than once that Hitler did good things too,” Kelly said.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement that Kelly “completely denied himself” by telling “debunked stories” about the Trump administration.
“President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all our military men and women,” Cheung said.
The Atlantic reported earlier Tuesday that Trump had secretly admired Hitler’s generals “who were completely loyal to him” and had followed orders, privately saying in a White House conversation: “I need the kind of generals Hitler had.” ‘
Kelly told NBC News in 2022 that when Trump complained about American generals, he would tell Trump that their main loyalty was to the Constitution and the rule of law.
More recently, Democrats have compared some of Trump’s rhetoric to Hitler’s. In December, Trump sparked backlash with a comment he made at a rally in New Hampshire, saying immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.” Hitler used the term ‘blood poisoning’ in his manifesto ‘Mein Kampf’ to denigrate immigration and the mixing of races. Trump has denied reading the text.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, referenced The Atlantic’s reporting on Trump’s admiration for Hitler’s generals at a campaign rally in Racine, Wisconsin, on Tuesday evening and said: You’re sick.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
